Prediction of external corrosion for steel storage cylinders

The US Department of Energy (DOE) currently manages the UF{sub 6} Cylinder Program (the program). The program was formed to address the depleted-uranium hexafluoride (UF{sub 6}) stored in approximately 50,000 carbon steel cylinders. The cylinders are located at three DOE sites: the K-25 site (K-25) at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) in Paducah, Kentucky, and the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) in Portsmouth, Ohio. The System Requirements Document (SRD) (LMES 1996a) delineates the requirements of the program. The appropriate actions needed to fulfill these requirements are then specified within the System Engineering Management Plan (SEMP) (LMES 1996b). The report presented herein documents activities that in whole or in part satisfy specific requirements and actions stated in the UF{sub 6} Cylinder Program SRD and SEMP with respect to forecasting cylinder conditions. The wall thickness projections made in this report are based on the assumption that the corrosion trends noted will continue. Some activities planned may substantially reduce the rate of corrosion, in which case the results presented here are conservative. The results presented here are intended to supersede those presented previously, as the quality of several of the datasets has improved